My Why

Have you seen this video?

I've had lots of great teachers. I would love to get them all in one room (good as well as not-so-good) and share with them a million Thank-yous for all the amazing lessons. Unfortunately, most of those great experiences were not at school. My greatest teachers were martial artists and percussionists.

My why is all about showing my school community as well as the global community that kids can do real work, for a real audience, with a real purpose. Furthermore, they can direct every single aspect of their learning with our consistent (and yet extremely minimal) support. Teachers have become not-so-glorified scaffold builders in so many ways. But remember friends, we build scaffolds to take the down. I'm here to remove the scaffolds. I decided long ago that I care more about human children than scores, curriculum, or anything that can be implemented "with fidelity." I know that teaching is an art. I believe that great teachers are great because of their differences. When asked what I teach, I simply say, "kids." It's a sad story that way too many teachers' answer to the question, "What do you teach?" is defined by an age group, a content area, or the name of a curriculum developed by someone who has never even met your students. Why?

I do what I do because I want students and teachers to have real choices. I want to show folks that teaching (and learning!) is way more art than science. We have to give teachers (and students!) the tools to flip the script!